A fairly widespread snowfall, which was not only limited to the high mountain areas but also reached the interior counties above 700 meters of altitude, has left this weekend a deceptive sense of relief in full episode of drought, which will require a very rainy spring to see a small ray of hope in the very serious water crisis that Catalonia is suffering from and which has forced all the alerts to be activated.
The precipitation that fell this weekend will have served, above all, to quench the thirst of the forests of some of the regions that still see with the utmost concern the high risk of fires predicted for the coming months, which will force the campaign of prevention at earlier dates than ever.
Half of Catalonia woke up on Sunday with widespread rain and snow at infrequent heights. Undoubtedly insufficient precipitation to substantially improve the situation of the reservoirs in the coming days, which yesterday Sunday were at 14.59% of their capacity, below the 16% that marked the entry into the emergency phase due to drought That of Sau is at 1.10% and those of Riudecanyes (2.70%) and Siurana (3.10%) are almost as bad.
In any case, March has started with rain and snowfall that has exceeded 5 centimeters of thickness above 700 meters in the regions of Vallès Oriental and Occidental, Moianès, Osona and la Selva, as well as in the mountains of Prades and Montsant and copiously in the Pyrenees.
In Prades, at an altitude of 926 meters, in the Tarragona region of Baix Camp, up to 11 centimeters of snow accumulated, while in the Pyrenees, between Saturday and Sunday, thicknesses of more than 40 centimeters were reached in Boí ( Alta), 34 in Espot (Pallars Sobirà) and 29 in Bonaigua (Pallars Sobirà), rainfall that was very well received by the winter stations, who trust that this episode will be followed by others in order to extend the season ‘ski.
Even in some municipalities of the metropolitan area, as is the case of Begues (Baix Llobregat), it was possible to see some snowflakes that also dusted the landscape of the Montserrat mountains.
The rain was particularly abundant in the Empordà. In the municipality of Roses, for example, 44 liters per square meter were recorded during the morning from Saturday to Sunday. Also, the rain water watered the needy parks and gardens of Barcelona, ??where the temperature dropped to 5 degrees, an unprecedented record in this winter so cold that it is still in its final stretch. Between 5 and 20 liters per square meter fell in the Catalan capital, very low figures but infrequent in these times of extreme drought in which every drop counts more than ever.
The rainfall over the weekend caused the C-28 road, at the port of Bonaigua, in Lleida, to be closed to traffic due to snow on Sunday morning; the T-704, from Maspujols to Aleixar; the TV-7004, from Ulldemolins to Vallclara; the TV-7012, in Arbolí, and the TV-7092, between Arbolí and La Mussara, all in the province of Tarragona, and on several Pyrenean roads the use of chains was necessary. However, at noon, once the precipitation ended, only the C-28, at the port of Bonaigua, and the access to Coll de Pal was closed due to snow.
